Frances M. "Peg" Spath, a homemaker who enjoyed vacationing in Ocean City , died July 22 of a stroke at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. She was 98. The daughter of Dr. John Milton King, a dentist, and Francesca Heinekamp King, a homemaker, Frances Margaret King was born in Norwich, Conn., and when she was 9, moved with her family to Baltimore. After graduating in 1933 from the old Seton High School, where she played varsity basketball, she went to work as a comptometer operator — using an early adding machine — at the old Esso Oil Co. refinery in Canton.

Settling a lawsuit, especially one filed over a controversy as emotionally charged as the fouling of Alaska's Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez, is often less satisfying to the complaining side than a clear victory in court. It is, however, eminently practical.Thus, it is not surprising that people in Alaska, seconded vociferously by environmental groups such as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, have criticized the three-way, $1.1 billion settlement between the company, the state of Alaska and the U.S. Justice Department.

Nearly a year after Maryland's highest court tossed out most of a $1.65 billion jury verdict against ExxonMobil Corp. in connection with a 2006 underground gasoline leak in northern Baltimore County, 43 families have settled their cases rather than return for new trials. Theodore M. Flerlage Jr., a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monday that two groups that had been scheduled for trial this past Monday and next Monday have settled their cases. They're the latest of four groups that have settled this month, leaving about 50 cases to be resolved.

A federal judge has sided with ExxonMobil Corp. in a case where 65 Maryland gas station operators recently sought to block the oil company from potentially selling their franchises out from under them. The gas station operators, who lease the stations across Maryland from ExxonMobil, filed a lawsuit in September to block what they believed was an imminent sale of their businesses. The station operators have alleged that Exxon is violating laws that would require the company to give the gas station operators the first right to buy the stations.

A jury awarded more than $150 million yesterday to the neighbors of a northern Baltimore County service station, finding Exxon Mobil Corp. liable for the damage caused when thousands of gallons of gasoline seeped into the groundwater from a leaking pipe. The Baltimore County jury's verdict - delivered after five months of testimony and nearly two weeks of deliberations - directs the oil giant to compensate about 90 Jacksonville families for the lost value of their homes. It also requires Exxon to pay for cancer screenings, and it acknowledges the upheaval caused by the huge spill by awarding millions of dollars for emotional distress.But the six-member panel stopped well short of the multibillion-dollar verdict sought by the plaintiff's lawyers.

Exxon Land Development has donated to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center an environmentally sensitive parcel of land in Edgewater, adjacent to the sprawling South River county school complex. The 96-acre tract, bounded by Route 214 and Muddy Creek Road, contains the headwaters of Glebe Creek, a tributary of the South River, said Anson Hines, assistant director of SERC. The land has been used by SERC for several years to observe migrant bird populations. "It's a very interesting parcel which has a diverse array of species," Hines said.

With friends like these. . . .Jim Munroe has this problem: Basically, he's being railroaded out of town. And no one wants to help him, certainly not a state government I always thought -- silly me -- was concerned with things like justice and at least borderline fair play.Munroe runs a gas station at the corner of Jumpers Hole Road and Ritchie Highway.He used to run a second station, at the corner ofJumpers Hole and Mountain roads, until the good folks at Exxon nearly quadrupled his rent back in February.

By Nick Madigan and Nick Madigan,nick.madigan@baltsun.com | February 24, 2009

At the beginning of a closing statement that he predicted would last the better part of two days, a lawyer representing 300 plaintiffs who are suing ExxonMobil Corp. said yesterday in Baltimore County Circuit Court that their community was "forever changed" by a huge gasoline leak three years ago. The spill, at a service station in Jacksonville, dumped more than 26,000 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline into the groundwater that supplied the area's wells. The plaintiffs, who are seeking at least $1 billion from the oil giant, claim that their physical and emotional health had been damaged and their property values have been ruined.

William Frank "Robbie" Robinson, an avid volunteer and longtime Exxon employee, died of lung cancer May 21 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. The Timonium resident was 75. Born and raised in West Virginia, Mr. Robinson joined the Army after graduating from high school in 1944 and spent 18 months with the service in Frankfurt, Germany. When he returned to the United States, he earned a political science degree from the University of Pittsburgh and found work in Washington with Esso, now Exxon.

Lawyers for families and businesses who sued ExxonMobil Corp. after an underground gasoline leak in northern Baltimore County have been granted more time to seek reconsideration of a court ruling that struck down most of a $1.5 billion verdict. The Maryland Court of Appeals gave lawyers for about 150 plaintiffs in Jacksonville until April 17 to submit their argument challenging the Feb. 26 verdict. The motion for reconsideration was originally due March 28. But the new date is short of the 30-day extension to April 29 that the lawyers requested in a motion filed last week, said Terri Bolling, a spokeswoman for the Maryland judiciary system.

Lawyers for northern Baltimore County families and businesses whose $1.5 billion damages award against the ExxonMobil Corp. was largely overturned by Maryland's highest court asked for more time to seek reconsideration. In a three-page motion filed Friday, the attorneys representing plaintiffs in an underground gasoline leak at a Jacksonville Exxon station in 2006 said they need more time to respond to the Feb. 26 Court of Appeals ruling because of the complexity and impact of the case.

A recent article about the Maryland Court of Appeals decision striking down most of the $1.65 billion judgment against ExxonMobil Corp. for a 2006 underground gasoline leak in Baltimore County quoted homeowner Hans Wilhelmsen, whose family had been awarded some $60 million in damages, as saying that "nobody was looking for some sort of enormous payout, but just wanted to protect the asset" ("Fraud verdict in leak struck," Feb. 27). The article did not disclose how many properties the Wilhemsen family owns, but he obviously lives in the priciest section of Baltimore County if it takes $60 million to "protect the asset.

Maryland's highest court on Tuesday struck down the bulk of a fraud case against ExxonMobil Corp. stemming from an underground gasoline leak in Baltimore County, reversing most of $1.65 billion in judgments and dealing a stunning blow to hundreds of families. In two opinions on cases arising from the 26,000 gallon spill in Jacksonville in 2006, the Court of Appeals tossed out claims of fraud and ruled that plaintiffs could not collect for emotional distress or the cost of medical care to monitor possible symptoms of illness.

Safeway Inc. has launched a gas rewards program with ExxonMobil. Grocery customers can earn points for most items at Safeway stores in the Mid-Atlantic and redeem the points at the pump at participating Exxon and Mobil stations, the supermarket chain is announcing today. "By teaming up with ExxonMobil, we're able to thank our customers with a loyalty program that makes two frequent and critical purchases lead to real savings," Mir Aamir, Safeway's president of customer loyalty, said in a statement.

Baltimore County Police say a man broke the glass door of the Exxon gas station on Goucher Boulevard with a rock last week and stole items inside. The incident occurred between 12:32 and 1:02 a.m. Dec. 7 at the station, in the 800 block of Goucher Boulevard. According to the report, after breaking the glass door, the man tried unsuccessfully to break into cash register, then stole food, candy and a pocket knife. In addition to this item, the following incidents were compiled from police reports from the Towson and Cockeysville precincts.

An article in Friday's Howard County edition of The Sun tTC mischaracterized actions taken by the county Board of Appeals in considering plans for a combination gas station, convenience store and fast-food restaurant at Gorman Road and U.S. 1. It also misidentified the source of concerns about the proximity of the facility to the highway and the reason the matter was subject to the board's approval.According to Donna Thewes, secretary to the administrative assistant to the board, no one appeared at the board meeting to testify against the proposal, but board members discussed several issues extensively before granting approval -- including expressing concerns about the effect of its lighting on motorists.

Fifteen years after the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound in Alaska, a federal judge yesterday imposed punitive damages on Exxon Mobil Corp. of $4.5 billion. With interest, the total punitive award amounts to about $6.75 billion, according to lawyers for the 32,000 fishermen and residents who brought the suit in 1989. Yesterday's decision was the third attempt by Judge H. Russel Holland, a U.S. district judge in Anchorage, Alaska, to impose a punitive award that the U.S. appeals court in San Francisco would uphold.

The Exxon Mobil Corp. asked Maryland's highest court Monday to erase most of the more than $1.5 billion awarded in two lawsuits over a large gasoline spill that Jacksonville residents claimed polluted their well water, left them fearful of getting cancer and made their property worthless. The oil giant's attorneys asked that new trials be held only on property value issues. That would leave the corporation and homeowners to argue over which homeowners to compensate for losses in property value.

I need to take a moment to tell you about Brad Marvel, a trained, certified, proud and professional automobile mechanic. I think I should add the he's sincere and earnest, and emphasize that he's a human being - a person, not a corporation. I had a meal with him at Bill Bateman's in Parkville. Marvel was so eager to tell his story that he barely touched his Monday night all-you-can-eat chicken wings special. At its core, Brad's story goes something like this: "I loved my customers at the Jacksonville Exxon station, and I want all of them to know - especially the ones who were harmed by the leak - that I had nothing to do with that.